Set in the late 1980s, the film stars Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet as a pair of young cannibals who develop feelings for each other on a road trip across the United States.
Michael Stuhlbarg, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, David Gordon Green, Jessica Harper, Jake Horowitz, and Mark Rylance appear in supporting roles.
Bones and All had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2022, where it won the Silver Lion for best direction and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Russell.
[3][4] The film received positive reviews, with critics praising the performances of Russell, Chalamet and Rylance, Guadagnino's direction, the cinematography, score, and fusion of genres.
Her beleaguered single father Frank, used to her cannibalistic nature since she murdered her babysitter at three years old, promptly relocates them and abandons her shortly after her 18th birthday, leaving behind a message where he hopes for her to overcome her hunger.
One of the film's producers, Theresa Park, was on a trip to the London Book Fair in 2015, when she discovered Camille DeAngelis's Bones & All, and described it as one of the "most heartbreaking" novels she had read.
[9][7] The first draft took around two and a half years, due to Kajganich's other commitments, nevertherless he appreciated the long process, as it allowed him to make decisions, that would have not been possible if the film had studio backing.
[9] The screenplay was finished over the COVID-19 lockdown but Campos had to drop out to work on another project, at that point Kajganich reached to Guadagnino again, who only read the script as a favor due to their friendship.
[9] Guadagnino joined the project a couple of weeks later, with the condition that actor Timothée Chalamet, with whom he had worked on Call Me by Your Name (2017), got on board as well.
[16][14][17] The team including the producers, Guadagnino, Chalamet, and the rest of the actors, deferred their salaries until after the distribution rights were bought, which "really helped with investors," said Melzi d'Eril.
[14][9] The film was executive produced by Giovanni Corrado and Raffaella Viscardi; with investment coming from The Apartment, 3 Marys, Memo, Tenderstories, Adler, Elafood, Elafilm, Manila, Serfis and Wise.
[25] Production was affected by break-ins that occurred for some of the crew's cars, leading to a request being submitted to Cincinnati City Council in late June to provide $50,000 for increased security.
[32] The official poster for the film was released on September 29, 2022, accompanied by its first trailer, which featured a rendition of Leonard Cohen's "You Want It Darker".
[41][42] In an interview with TheWrap, Reznor and Ross explained that they had extensive discussions with Guadagnino regarding the score, who stated that he wanted it to be "a melancholic elegy, an unending longing.
[57] The film expanded alongside Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Strange World, Devotion, and the wide expansion of The Fabelmans, and was projected to gross around $7–9 million from 2,727 theaters over its five-day opening weekend.
The website's consensus reads: "Although its subject matter may be hard to stomach, Bones and All proves a deeply romantic and thought-provoking treat.
[69] The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney also praised the duo, adding their performances are "unforced and underplayed to subtly stirring effect," while calling the film "strangely affecting, even poetic" and commending the direction and cinematography.
[70] Leila Latif in her review for IndieWire wrote, "Bones & All is fundamentally a beautifully realized and devastating, tragic romance which at multiple moments would have Chekhov himself weeping as the trigger is pulled.
"[72] Writing for Sight & Sound, John Bleasdale described it as "wryly funny, gleefully entertaining and oddly touching" and praised the direction, cinematography, score, and cast performances.
"[74] "There's real pleasure in Bones and All, an insistent sweetness that somehow both nourishes and cleanses away the horror" wrote Justin Chang in his review for the Los Angeles Times.
[75] Clint Worthington Flow of Consequence described the film as "an oddly sweet—presumably a little coppery, too, due to all the blood—alchemy of love and murder" and compared it to Badlands (1973) and Bonnie and Clyde (1967), with their tales of "lovers skirting human morality and forging their own sense of paradise with each other".
[76] In one unenthusiastic review, Slant's Keith Uhlich criticized the screenplay, direction, and cast performances, concluding: "Straining to be a YA spin on Trouble Every Day, Bones and All barely eclipses Twilight.